Storm Troopers

Hail smacks into north Fort Worth

Star-Telegram Metro Editor Lee Williams took these cellphone photos of the hail that fell on his yard late last night. No report of damages yet.

All quiet -- for now

It's nearly midnight and the rain has subsided in Fort Worth.

The largest band has moved off toward Dallas, but National Weather Service radarshowed it stretching from Cleburne in Johnson County northeast across Dallas County and on into Collin County.

Alex Branch reported that baseball size hail fell upon Keller. Be watching Star-Telegram.com tomorrow for follow-up reports on storm damage and any other overnight developments.

-- Bill Miller

Radar image shows storm's track

This radar image from the National Weather Service shows the storm's track.

Meanwhile, Alex Branch reports hail the size of golf balls and tennis balls has fallen in North Fort Worth.

-- Bill Miller

Thunderstorm has reached southwest Fort Worth

It's 10:54 p.m. and a burst of heavy rain has just rolled through southwest Fort Worth. We could see it approaching from the southwest, with lightning flickering in the upper clouds.

-- Bill Miller

Rough weather should be mostly over by the end of rush hour commute

The Fort Worth Office of Emergency Management received two reports of pea size hail from the Keller and Saginaw areas between 1 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. There were some reports of sirens being sounded in eastern Fort Worth, but emergency management officials have activated no sirens, said Calvin Brown, emergency management officer. The office has seen some lightning strikes which is a cause of siren malfunction. However, there have been no reports of any malfunctioning sirens, Brown said.

The area is looking at some light to moderate rain for the rush hour drive home, said Nick Hampshire, a meteorologist with the Fort Worth office of the National Weather Service. Commuters should expect some light to moderate rain that should start to dissipate between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., Hampshire said. A 40 percent to 50 percent chance of rain and thunderstorms is still in the forecast for Thursday. There is a slight chance that some of those thunderstorms could be severe, Hampshire said. A cold front that stalled out south of Tarrant County is trying to move north. The cold front is not expected to reach the Metroplex, but it continues to make our weather unstable, Hampshire said. — Mitch Mitchell

Drought took a punch, but it's still standing

Three days of rain have punched the 18-month-old drought in the mouth, but it's still standing.

Consider this data crunched this morning by Steve Fano, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Fort Worth.

The drought, which began late 2007, had left North Texas with a rain deficit of 7.63 inches at the end of 2008.

"Then in January, we were another 1.08 inches in the hole," Fano said.

There was some rain in February, but not enough to erase the drought. By March 10, another 2.81 was added to the shortfall for a total deficit of 11.44 inches.

That started to change, of course, with heavy showers and thunderstorms which began Wednesday, but they are expected to taper off later today.

"We picked up 1.2 inches yesterday," Fano said. "It's very likely we'll be over 4 inches before this whole event is over.

"If it didn't rain in March we would've been 14 inches in the hole."

But even with a possible 4 inches this week, that still leaves a 10-inch deficit, Fano said.

You may wonder if this week's rains signal an end to the drought, but there's no scientific correlation to that, Fano said.

"But keep your fingers crossed," Fano said. "We're at least chipping away at our deficit. This is a start."

-- Bill Miller

Some times weather sensor gets confused

What? Snow at Meacham Airport?

Not!

But that's what you read Thursday morning if you were logged onto some Websites maintained by the National Weather Service.

Turns out, however, that even though it was cold and wet, there was no snow -- even though a weather service sensor at the airport said so.

The device is part of the Automated Surface Observing System, or ASOS, which has replaced human weather observers at airports around the nation. (The ASOS shown in the NWS photo, right, is in Salinas, California.)

Aviation officials started installing the systems during the mid 1990s, but they were met with criticism from some air-traffic controllers who complained that they were misreading actual weather conditions, according to archived news reports.

Apparently one glitch lingers.

"Some times it gets confused," said Steve Fano, a weather service meteorologist.. "Any time precipitation is really light and temperatures are below 38 degrees, the sensor doesn't know if it's rain or snow.

"So it calls it snow."

The weather at 9:30 a.m. was 37 degrees with light drizzle over some areas.

Fano reminded that snow can occur when it's 40 degrees, but it has to be really cold aloft, and that wasn't the case on Thursday.

"It's not really snowing," he said.

-- Bill Miller

Red Flag warning today, so don't toss your cig butts

We were taught as children that we should never be careless with fire, but a day like today ought to drive that point home.

A Red Flag warning will be in effect from 11 a.m. through 8 p.m. along and west of Interstate 35, according to the National Weather Service.

It's so dry out there -- relative humidity is below 30 percent -- and winds are expected to be 15-25 mph with gusts possibly reaching 30 mph.

So any careless spark can ignite a wild fire.

Avoid all outdoor burning and welding.

And, the weather service urges, "Do not toss lit cigarette butts outside."

-- Bill Miller